Book Review: Headlock

Reviewed By: Carl Brookins - RAM

Headlock     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Burl Barer
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Deadly Alibi Press; 2000; 234pp

Jeff Reynolds is a private investigator, a P.I. in the parlance. He’s also an author. Readers may decide there are autobiographical connections between Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Barer. They would not be mistaken. Reynolds is sarcastic, casts a widely jaundiced eye, and has an interestingly skewed attitude toward several common aspects of the world we live in.

Jeff Reynolds is not exactly the P.I. I would hire to solve a mystery for me. But Jeff Reynolds is certainly a guy I’d spend some quality time hanging out with. Particularly at McFeely’s Tavern in, of all places, Walla Walla.

The gist of the story is that this paranoid fellow who rarely ventures beyond his front door may--or may not--know something material about a murder. A murder that happened a while ago. Feeling threatened, he, one Richard Tibbits, now wants Jeff Reynolds to find out why no one was prosecuted and why people are again pestering Richard. If, in fact, they are. The way he picked Reynolds is interesting. Tibbits read about Reynolds in the local newspaper on the occasion of a bookstore signing for one of Reynolds’ books. By the way, Tibbits is a former pro-wrestler, which should tell you something about this book.

Part of the difficulty with this action novel that just lopes right along page after page is that it’s complicated and a little hard to read because your eyes keep tearing up with laughter. There are truly only a few writers working today who can sustain such a consistent level of fine writing, complexities of plot, great imagination, and humor.

I just hope he doesn’t write too many of them. My stomach muscles are still sore from laughing.

Carl Brookins - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM

Please visit Carl's website at http://www.carlbrookins.com/